I wanted to play around with PostgreSQL on the test server at work today, and found the slackpack over at LinuxPackages. I was very pleased that I wouldn’t have to compile PostgreSQL from source, as such complex apps will take more time than I would like to invest.

Anyway, once I’ve installed the package, and initialised the database, I decided to give phpPgAdmin a whirl on my freshly baked PostgreSQL installation, but when I try to use it I get an error message telling me that I have not compiled proper database support into my PHP installation.

Bargh, I checked out my phpinfo(); and sure enough, Slackware‘s package was not built with the --with-pgsql option.

Most of my googling results metion that the only solution is to recompile PHP from scratch, including the --with-pgsql flag. Hmm, I’d really hate to replace my original PHP installation which was done in the “proper” way, ie. via the available slackpack. Who know what the hell I can possibly misconfigure and break!

Anyway, here’s how I got my PostgreSQL to work with the default Slackware PHP installation:

Download the PHP source code(be sure to use the PHP version that’s the same with your installation).